[ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today" -- where to begin. from controversial tax cuts to don't ask, don't tell, politically charged issues grip washington. taking action. what some airports are now doing in response to traveler outrage to invasive pat-downs. and a star is born. new york's rockefeller christmas tree is unveiled with 35 days until christmas. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pick time zone. i'm lynn berry. today, we begin with a bitter battle. as the clock ticks down on the outgoing leadership in the house, the fight over compromise on key votes is heating up. nbc's tracie potts jones us from washington with the latest on capitol hill along with details on president obama's latest transatlantic trip. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. the president as of right now left it behind. he has landed this morning in europe where he's there for two days of middle easting with nato and the european+ union, reashiring allies and take ak trade and the war in afghanistan, but he's left a lot of issues unresolved here on capitol hill. one of themes the jobless, unemployment, they failed in the house here last night to pass an extension of unemployment benefits for the 2 million people whose benefits run out as of december 1st. the problem, it will cost $12.5

billion to extend them through the end of february. the other big unresolved issue, of course what to do about the bush tax cuts that expire at the end of the year. the white house suggested temporarily extending them for the wealthy embracing a temporary extension, but democrats now say they will try to get votes in the next couple of weeks that only deal with the middle class. that's something that republicans say they absolutely will not support. they want those tax breaks to continue for people who make over $250,000 a year. if they don't get something done they will all expire come january. one issue where it seems there may be agreement, however. senator joe lieberman says it looks like they do have the votes to repeal don't ask, don't tell, the policy on gays in the military. democrats have announced that the gop says if they're allowed to speak and offer amendments, they will support that repeal. lynn? >> tracie potts in washington. tracie, tranche.

growing frustration with the transportation security administration and what many americans feel are overly intrusive pat-downs and scanning procedures have led several airports across the country to take an alternative route. some 17 airport administrators faced with the challenge of keeping passengers safe and satisfied have exercised their right by law to use private security screeners instead of the tsa as long as they follow the same rules and guidelines. one veteran congressman is leading the push to convince airports to drop the tsa. the nationwide uprising has taken on a life of its own recently through numerous internet campaigns. >> now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america -- a group of seattle detectives are accused of failing to notify their superiors of surveillance video that shows an officer kicking a teenage suspect. police say the 17-year-old suspect fled the scene of an undercover drug bust. the video shows an undercover cop cornering and kicking the

suspect several times. internal affairs is investigating and the aclu is calling for a civil rights investigation. also in washington -- surveillance video she's man taunting then assaulting a developmentally disabled man. the 55-year-old victim of the unprovoked attack is seen getting off a bus when he's punched by the man who then just walks away. the victim suffered a broken jaw and deep cuts. the man has been charged with second-degree assault. the chilean miners and their families got a hollywood treatment yesterday. a tour of tinsel town heroes took a whirlwind tour waving and chanting to the crowd. the miners and a few rescuers were in town for a thanksgiving tv special. and unveiling 25,000 frothy crystal star that will sit atop the rockefeller christmas tree. the 12-point the star has 720

l.e.d. bulbs, 3,000 feet of wire, and the tree will be lit on november 30th. it is that time of year. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning. >> almost as bright as you. ding! >> ding. >> that's amazing, lynn. next friday is black friday. this is the last weekend before thanksgiving, i mean, yeah. this is -- time to get things done on the checklists. unfortunately the weather in the west isn't going to cooperate. a pretty big sized storm raining down into southern california with this storm system. mountains are going to pick up some snow. they're happy. they'd actually like the snow for skiers over the thanksgiving break. as far what's we're dealing with, one storm spinning off the coast of oregon and washington. another cold front system draped here and bringing down much colder air. it is very cold up in areas of montana, and we're seeing some

of this air coming down in the negative numbers. first arctic outbreak of the season. cold air, moisture, enough for snow out there. right now snow showers through the cascades once again. not as bad as yesterday in some of the passes up around snoqualmie. winter storm warnings, area in pink. yellowstone park expecting two feet of snow. computers predicting for the most part 6 to 12 inches in the highest of elevations. just expect during your weekend, traveling in the mountainous area, it's going to be difficult. that's a look at your friday forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. >> the pick northwest, snow in the interiors. most cities dealing with rain. snowflakes over the next couple of days in medford and portland. well, lynn, it's not often los angeles gets rain. could have spent as much as 3/4

inch from this storm. big deal. >> that means also bumper-to-bumper traffic. >> nots the morning rush hour. way home, probably. >> good. bill, thank you so much. coming up, gm rules wall street. economic data looks up and a prince of a bet in england. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, it's here. the latest harry potter flick gets ready to gobble up box office records. king felix is crowned, the bears reach a milestone and one of the dirtiest soccer saves you'll ever see. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning -- the house ethics committee has voted to censure embattled new york congressman charles rangel after finding him guilty of financial misconduct. if the full house affirms the recommendation when the chamber returns after thanksgiving,

rangel will get a formal scolding from the speaker in front of his colleagues. alaska senate candidate joe miller is asking a judge to stop certifying the vote of the election in which lisa murkowski already declared victory. this despite the state republican party recognized murkowski as the winner. ohio police say an unemployed tree trimmer facing charges for kidnapping a teenage girl told them where to find the girl's mother, brother and family friend. the family's remains were found in plastics bags stuffed in a hollow tree. the father of missing american teenager natalee holloway says dutch authorities requested her dental records to see if they match a possible human jaw bone with a tooth in it found in aruba last week. and astronomers have discovered an alien planet that came from another galaxy. the jupiter-like planet once

orbited a star born in another galaxy later captured by our own milky way between 6 billion and 9 billion years ago. >> and now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines at msnbc.com. government researchers report more than 45 million americans, or 20% of all u.s. adults, have some form of mental illness from last year. young adults age 18 to 25 had the highest level of illnesses while those age 50 and lower have the lowest. the survey hints at record unemployment rates, which last year hit a 25-year high. for more information on this and other health stories, check tout out the health page at msnbc.com. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,181 after shooting up 173 points yesterday. the s&p added 18 points. the nasdaq jumped 38. taking a look at overseas

trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei edged up 8 points. but in hong kong, the hang seng fell 31. wall street reversed course thursday, surging higher thanks to solutions to ireland's banking crisis and buyers buying into the return of public trading and general motors. expectations of an irish bailout by the european union drove u.s. listed shares of the bank of ireland to skyrocket more than 33%. those expectations strengthened the euro against the dollar, boosting commodity and energy prices and stocks and related sectors. aluminum producer alcoa was the top percentage gainer on the dow jones industrials, up almost 3.5%. also fueling optimism, data that showed weekly applications for unemployment insurance hit a two-year low last week, and factory activity in the country's mid-atlantic region accelerated in november, suggesting the economy's recovery is gaining speak. gm shares roller coasted throughout the day, shooting up as much as 9%, reflecting investor confidence that the

automaker can sustain its recovery after returning to the market in the nation's largest ever ipo. gm accounted for almost 10% of all shares traded on the new york stock exchange. gm closed up 3.6% at $34.19 a share. keep an eye today on dell. after the bell, the computermaker stock zoomed in after hours trade adding to thursday's upbeat mood. dell credited strong demand from large corporations for its quarterly numbers finishing above wall street expectations. finally, horse racing betters at one track in north england couldn't believe their eyes on tuesday. on the same day the nation was celebrating prince william's engagement, a horse was running named tocatchaprince. hunch players went home happy after the horse came in a winner at 8 to 1 odds. coming up, the magic make a mockery of phoenix, an explosion

on the i and a soccer ball gets stuck in the mud. plus, the chicago bears were in miami last night and they accomplished something no team has ever done before in the nfl. your early morning sports headlines are just ahead. coming up in weather, it's all about your weekend forecast. also, i'll give you your friday forecast. you're watching "early today." the black widow spider's severe bite

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good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports -- already banged up, the miami dolphins got no sympathy last night from the tough chicago bears' defense. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. here's the situation. miami dolphins started their third string quarterback against the chicago bears and it showed. tyler thigpen getting the start he probably wishes he hadn't. in the first quarter, thigpen dropped back and was picked off by charles tillman. bears up, 6-0 at the half. late in the third, somebody finally scored a touchdown. mat forte punched it in. two yards out. bears up 14-0. chicago defense got to thigpen six times. julius pepper with three sacks. bears shut out the dolphins, 16-0, they're the first nfl team to win 700 regular season games. proving that winning isn't everything, the mariners felix hernandez won the cy young award despite their record.

david price finished second. basketball magic. magic and suns, steve nash sat out with a sore groin. alley-oop from nelson. a spin along the baseline, then the dunk. howard had 20 points and 12 boards. final seconds, carter up and under at the buzzer, magic up 28 at the break. they won it 105-9. 89. there was almost no score between the flyers and the lightning. two teams combined for 15 goals. steven stamkos had a hat trick. also five points. five in the second, lightning won it in a barn burner, 8-7. from one end of the spectrum to the other, soccer in germany. haroon thought he had a goal. mother nature said, no, stopped by the mud. one more time. he had the goalie beat, but the ball stopped on a dime. that should be a new strategy for goalies, simply tear off the grass, pour water on the field and watch them try to score. that's just dirty.

a that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. before the latest harry potter film opened, it already set a bunch of records. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, wedding photos can hold our dearest memories. we'll tell you about one couple that procrastinated for 45 years before worrying about theirs. you're watching "early today."

welcomes back. once again a pretty big storm headed into the west. we continue to watch rain and snow throughout here. as you go throughout the next couple of day, weather kind of the same. not a lot change on the west coast. winter storm warnings at high elevations an a lot of snow expected in the highest elevations of the sierras. today's forecast, rainy in the city. even los angeles eventually gets rain later today and into saturday. dined of more of the same here. messy weather pattern for much of the west. i think phoenix and vague you'll avoid it, but everyone else will have to deal with a little bad weather. if you're watching on knsb, san diego, california, they're more diverse than mammals older than dinosaurs and they're everywhere. learn about lizards, snakes ali alive, at the san diego national history museum. that's your pacific event of the day, lynn. >> thanks, bill. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. at the box office this weekend, it's simple.

"harry potter." the only question is, what are the numbers going to be? "harry potter and the deathly hallows" part one actually opened a few hours ago at midnight. last night alone, it's expected to have earned roughly $30 million. as of wednesday, warner brothers claimed it had taken in a record $27 million in advanced sales just for this weekend. more than 3,000 show times across the country have already sold out. the movie will play on 239 imax screens in the u.s. that's the most in imax history. the film cost an estimated $150 million to make. and industry experts say dream come true figures for the studio would be over $100 million for the opening weekend and $400 million over the long haul. i think that may be possible. the only other movie opening this weekend is russell crowe's "the next three days." it will draw mostly older movie goers and might be able to crack the top five. we'll find out on monday.

this comes to us from wilkes-barre, pennsylvania. one couple thought memories of their wedding faded years ago. they couldn't afford their wedding photos. the photographer's son ended up helping them sift through thousands of negatives and they luckily found them. right there. they said it was easy thanks to her mary tyler moore flip and his slicked back elvis hair hairstyle, which i think is funny. looking back on old wedding photographs and think similar to that, even though now it's -- >> lynn, i'm embarrassed to admit, we never got our photos. keep saying we're going to do it. >> you are a real life -- i. can so relate to that. i don't know if the guy exists anymore. i need to contact him. >> how is this possible? >> i don't know. >> we're going to get on with this right now.

i'm lynn berry and this is nbc "early today" today, on your nbc station.

for one town in the czech republic, chess isn't a game to be taken lightly. the world's heaviest chess set made its move into the record books. in total, the decorated block and white -piece set weighs 48 tons. it took four years to create the pieces and one game took five hours to complete. when it comes to creating art, one unique painter isn't horsing around. a horse in poland has developed a knack for painting.

the 10-year-old arabian mare uses her mouth to grasp a paint brush. she's thought to be the only one of her kind turned artist. in the last few months, the horse has completed 30 works of art. it wasn't just one for the record books. over 200,000 people around the globe hoped to make their mark on guinness world record day. some highlights, most costumed dogs at 426. cancan girls in paris had the highest chorus line. and the oldest wing walker, a 90-year-old who flew up 500 feet on a wing. >> on a biplane, that's great. >> at 90 years old, i'm just hoping i can leave my house and get in my car to go somewhere. wing walker is high expectations. >> very ambitious. very proud of him. >> yeah. absolutely. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc -- in washington, the united states mint will hold a launch ceremony

for the new abraham lincoln $1 coin. in los angeles, fans of the man in black can get an early look at items that once belonged country music legend johnny cash before they go on the auction block next month. and in an nbc news exclusive, brian williams travels to scotland for a rare one-on-one interview with prince charles. catch that special edition on "dateline," "the man who would be king" tonight at 9:00 on your nbc station. all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news." and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. reports that prince william and kate middleton may wed at westminster abby. and "today" goes viral. the grand finale and the "today" show special series on viral videos. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry.

thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com